The Tikal event made its debut at the WBC with 95 entrants
throughout four heats and 34 four-player boards. Many players
had never played the game before. For example, among the finalists,
Rob had played one game before the convention, one heat to qualify,
and one semi to advance. The final represented his 4th game ever.
Marvin learned the game in the 4th heat to qualify, advanced
in the semis and played his third game ever in the final.

The semis began with 33 1st place entrants, of which 22 showed
up to play. The semis were rounded out by two 2nd place players.
The 2nd place alternates were determined by their point differential
against the 1st place finisher in their respective heats.

Of the six boards of 4 in the semis, the four top winners
advanced to the finals. Advancing players were determined by
percent of their final score vs the games' total scores. The
Semi board scores were as follows:

Board

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Total Points

Winner

% Score

1

107

96

86

85

374

Steve Cameron

.286

2

124

120

113

83

440

Marvin Birmbaum

.282

3

105

98

88

83

374

Jason O'Donnell

.281

4

110

105

98

85

398

Rob Kilroy

.276

5

109

101

100

88

398

John Wetherell

.274

6

89

88

83

78

338

Mike Backstrom

.263

Strategies as described by the finalists:

Steve Cameron: Score opportunistic points, Piss off
no one to stay "above the fray".

Marvin Birmbaum: Hang back, don't bid, scavenge the
weak spots.

Jason O'Donnell: "I have two basic strategies
in Tikal, get the most kewpie dolls as early as you can
and when bidding for hex placement always set the bid properly.
My kewpie strategy is basically that once acquired they are yours
forever and you don't need to defend them as you do uncapped
temples.

"I have learned that you don't just bid the next point
up, but rather the most appropriate amount or what you are willing
to pay. This can sometimes be a closer for you or cause someone
else to overbid for the right to place the hex. I think diplomacy
is inherent in games like Tikal. Having played Diplomacy
and Dune as part of my early boardgaming experience, my
style is to negotiate deals while trying to manipulate my opponents
against each other."

"On the first bid, there really isn't anything worth
bidding on, so I wanted to go last and have the most options.
Through chance selection, the bidding started with the first
player to my left. I was then able to bid zero every time in
the first round ensuring I got the last tile. There were two
temples, a kewpie, and a soccer field tile. I got the soccer
field and built a campsite. The setup was so good that it eventually
cost only one action point to move to five of the six adjacent
hexes. Being three action points away from the starting hex,
I had dominant access to most of the early temples and kewpies.
This also allowed me to focus on the near hexes and wait to build
my second camp later. I quickly dug and capped a 9-temple. At
this point, I would bid only for kewpie hexes."

"I got out to an early lead, but then Rob came on strong
in the middle game as I went kewpie hunting and didn't challenge
for a lot of temples. Steve was looking at a close third. I had
Marvin challenging me on a 7-temple adjacent to my base camp.
We both had our leader and four or five assistants each. I was
able to position my second camp with a 6-temple and remote enough
access that nobody would be able to challenge me for it. So,
I negotiated a truce with Marvin. I gave him the 7-temple if
he
would leave me alone and concentrate on my opposition Rob. This
allowed me to move to secure the new temple and quickly dig to
a 10 and cap it too. Thus, I had a 10-temple and a 9-temple capped
with another 15 points in kewpies for a total of 34 secure points,
before the third volcano came-up. Both cappings came at minimal
cost of units. Sometimes capping can be
expensive in unit loss. This allowed me to have units available
to get dominance on other uncapped temples."

"Unfortunately, Marvin gave only one small token effort
against Rob, choosing instead to challenge Steve. This allowed
Rob to make a serious bid for the win at the end. However, truth
and justice prevailed allowing me my first win at AvalonCon/WBC.
Ha, Bruce!"

Blow by blow recap of the final:

Bidding by round

Round

1st bid

2nd bid

3rd bid

4th bid

1

1

1

2

2

1

1

3

3

2

1

Volcano

4

2

1

1

1 tent each out

5

5

4

4

Volcano

6

2

2

1

7

5

3

8

6

4

1

9

2

2

2

Scoring by Volcano

Volcano Order

Steve

Jason

Rob

Marvin

1

26

31

26

29

2

39

46

43

43

3

61

65

64

67

4

93

111

103

102

Temple Points

21

31

24

34

Treasure Points

13

15

15

1

Famous quotes throughout the final game:

Rob Kilroy (responding to Jason's Kibitzing) "Pipe down
Churchill"
Marvin (responding to Jason's Kibitzing) "I think you have
to take on orange 'cause you are in second place, so leave me
the ____ alone."
Jason "It's tense, but there's no animosity here. He's having
a great game (Rob). He's having a great game (Steve). And he's
having a good time (Marvin)."
Steve (to Marvin's negotiation in splitting temples) "I
am going to fight for both of them (temples) because you are
picking on me and not orange."
Rob (commenting on final scoring at end of game) "This is
the freshest part of the game, the last 10 minutes. Because he
(Jason) has finally shut up."